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Friday, July 21, 2017

Samson sets a riddle

Bible 4One day the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and said, ‘Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon give birth to a son. You must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food. Your son’s hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.’ Bible 5When she told her husband, Manoah, he prayed, ‘Lord, please let the man of God come back to us again and give us more instructions about this son who is to be born.’ Bible 6The angel of God appeared once again to his wife as she was sitting in the field. But her husband, Manoah, was not with her. So she went to fetch him.

Bible 7Manoah asked, ‘When the boy is born, what rules should govern his life?’ The angel repeated the instruction he had given to Manoah’s wife.‘What is your name?’ asked Manoah.‘It is too wonderful for you to understand,’ the angel of the Lord replied. Bible 8Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a rock as a sacrifice to the Lord. Bible 9As the flames from the altar shot up toward the sky, the angel of the Lord ascended in the fire. Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.

Bible 10Some time later the son they had been promised was born. They named him Samson. Bible 11The Lord blessed Samson as he grew up and the Spirit of the Lord stirred in him. His hair was not cut and he did not drink wine or eat forbidden food. Bible 12Once again, the Israelites started worshipping idols and did wrong in God’s eyes.

Bible 13His father and mother objected. ‘Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?’ they asked. ‘Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?’ Samson refused to listen to them, demanding the marriage be arranged. Bible 14As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion suddenly attacked Samson. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands. Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. He found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass and scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it.Bible 15Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom for elite young men. When the bride’s parents saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town to be his companions. Samson announced, ‘Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve it during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.’ They agreed.Samson put the riddle to them, ‘Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.’

Bible 16Three days later they were still trying to figure it out. On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, ‘Entice your husband to explain the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?’Bible 17So, Samson’s wife came to him in tears and said, ‘You don’t love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.’ Samson refused. She kept crying and nagging Samson for the answer for the remainder of the feast. On the last day of the feast Samson gave in to her pressure and told her the answer. She immediately betrayed him and told the guests.

Bible 18So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: ‘What is sweeter than honey?What is stronger than a lion?’Samson replied, ‘If you hadn’t put pressure on my wife to betray me, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!’ Bible 19Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. His wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.

Samson sets a riddleSamson sets a riddle for his wedding guests.Judges 13:1-14:20